ACT hopes to move on from donations saga

The ACT Party is hoping to move on from the controversy that dogged its leader last year.

The party will hold its annual conference on Saturday on a private property north of Auckland.

Last year, a police investigation found insufficient evidence to proceed with charges relating to donations to party leader John Banks during his 2010 Auckland mayoral campaign, but did not fully exonerate the MP.

John Banks says he's moved on from the Auckland mayoral campaign saga, and so has the party.

ACT's departing president Chris Simmons says the controversy was distracting for the party but it now has to move on from it.

Incoming president, former MP and minister John Boscawen, says his challenge is to increase the membership and to bring ACT back into Parliament in 2014 with increased numbers.